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Twitter suspends Babylon Bee for naming Rachel Levine ‘Man of the Year’

NatMorton

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Twitter locked the account of a right-leaning parody site, The Babylon Bee, after it awarded Rachel Levine, the transgender Biden administration official, the title of “man of the year.”

The Babylon Bee story was a reaction to USA Today’s naming of Levine, who is US assistant secretary for health for the US Department of Health and Human Services, as one of its “women of the year” last week.

Twitter says it will restore the account, which has more than 1.3 million followers, if the Bee deletes the tweet, but CEO Seth Dillon says he has no intention of doing so.

“We’re not deleting anything,” Dillon tweeted from his personal account. “Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.”
Source: here.

Good for The Bee.

And for those who will misunderstand (willfully or not) this OP, it is not an argument against trans politics or policy. It's also not an assertion that Twitter somehow lacks the authority to do this; their house, their rules. What it is is a reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be. They are not looking to hear your differing views. They're not looking to prove that you are wrong. They're looking to shut you down so that others can't hear you.

F censorship, public or private.
 
Source: here.

Good for The Bee.

And for those who will misunderstand (willfully or not) this OP, it is not an argument against trans politics or policy. It's also not an assertion that Twitter somehow lacks the authority to do this; their house, their rules. What it is is a reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be. They are not looking to hear your differing views. They're not looking to prove that you are wrong. They're looking to shut you down so that others can't hear you.

F censorship, public or private.


Darn right, porn should be on cable tv in the middle of the day east to access
 
Another example of why conservative humor fails. It's mean spirited.

That said I don't believe they should lose their privilege of displaying their character, or lack of it.
 
Another example of why conservative humor fails. It's mean spirited.

That said I don't believe they should lose their privilege of displaying their character, or lack of it.
Maybe "Rachel" would enjoy the double award?
 
Source: here.

Good for The Bee.

And for those who will misunderstand (willfully or not) this OP, it is not an argument against trans politics or policy. It's also not an assertion that Twitter somehow lacks the authority to do this; their house, their rules. What it is is a reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be. They are not looking to hear your differing views. They're not looking to prove that you are wrong. They're looking to shut you down so that others can't hear you.

F censorship, public or private.
Totally ironic that the twits running such a "serious" site like Twitter can't take a joke.
 
Source: here.

Good for The Bee.

And for those who will misunderstand (willfully or not) this OP, it is not an argument against trans politics or policy. It's also not an assertion that Twitter somehow lacks the authority to do this; their house, their rules. What it is is a reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be. They are not looking to hear your differing views. They're not looking to prove that you are wrong. They're looking to shut you down so that others can't hear you.

F censorship, public or private.

Do you think many regular Twitter users give a shit whether they don’t return?
 
Another example of why conservative humor fails. It's mean spirited.

That said I don't believe they should lose their privilege of displaying their character, or lack of it.
The Bee is actually pretty good satire, on occasion, and willing to take aim at both the left and the right.

The reason that the cutting edge / good humor these days is generally either apolitical , or anti-woke, is because wokism has become a kind of puritan sect: absolutist, conformist, and totally unable to laugh at itself or recognize it's extremes.

Witness: this story.
 
The Bee is actually pretty good satire, on occasion, and willing to take aim at both the left and the right.

The reason that the cutting edge / good humor these days is generally either apolitical , or anti-woke, is because wokism has become a kind of puritan sect: absolutist, conformist, and totally unable to laugh at itself or recognize it's extremes.

Witness: this story.
LOL, Bee used to be decent satire before they went full right wing. They're so bad at telling jokes now that half the time they're accidentally satirizing themselves.
 
Source: here.

Good for The Bee.

And for those who will misunderstand (willfully or not) this OP, it is not an argument against trans politics or policy. It's also not an assertion that Twitter somehow lacks the authority to do this; their house, their rules. What it is is a reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be. They are not looking to hear your differing views. They're not looking to prove that you are wrong. They're looking to shut you down so that others can't hear you.

F censorship, public or private.
You understand that this is capitalism in action, don't you? Twitter's executives probably don't give a flying fig about Levine or trans rights - not in comparison to their concern over the bottom line - and they certainly don't favour actual left-wing politics! They think it might play well to their market, so that's what they do regardless of any 'morals' or 'principles' that they might otherwise have considered.

Twitter users are disproportionately young, and therefore somewhat more likely to be concerned about inclusivity towards trans people... just connect the dots man. It's all about the bottom line.
 
Do you think many regular Twitter users give a shit whether they don’t return?
I'm pretty sure The Babylon Bee, a regular Twitter user with a following of 1.3 million just answered that question.

No, not if if means deleting their post because some twit of a twit got their silk panties in a wad over a piece of satire they didn't particularly find to their liking.
 
LOL, Bee used to be decent satire before they went full right wing. They're so bad at telling jokes now that half the time they're accidentally satirizing themselves.
Currently on their front page are articles making fun of:

Right wing culture warriors: https://babylonbee.com/news/bowing-...-mickey-holding-hands-in-front-of-pink-castle

Donald Trump: https://babylonbee.com/news/concern...s-without-sending-supporters-a-campaign-email

And the defense industry: https://babylonbee.com/news/lockheed-martin-ceo-tearfully-urges-us-to-implement-no-fly-zone
 
Another example of why conservative humor fails. It's mean spirited.

That said I don't believe they should lose their privilege of displaying their character, or lack of it.
I see your point and tend to lean in this direction. I don't like the idea of creating increasing silos where people stew and fester. It's much better to have an open forum where things done in poor taste receive their comeuppance through discourse; though I am a bit hesitant to think discourse is all that effective these days.
 
You understand that this is capitalism in action, don't you? Twitter's executives probably don't give a flying fig about Levine or trans rights - not in comparison to their concern over the bottom line - and they certainly don't favour actual left-wing politics! They think it might play well to their market, so that's what they do regardless of any 'morals' or 'principles' that they might otherwise have considered.

Twitter users are disproportionately young, and therefore somewhat more likely to be concerned about inclusivity towards trans people... just connect the dots man. It's all about the bottom line.
I understand what Twitter is doing and why, but that understanding does not put them above criticism.
 
Another example of why conservative humor fails. It's mean spirited.

That said I don't believe they should lose their privilege of displaying their character, or lack of it.
Yes it was mean spirited, but I don't think it was meant to be funny or humorous to the general population. It was written by a conservative, to play on conservatives transphobia. In the recent past, they used the same kind of, 'humor' on others, Why do n****** stink, so blind people can hate them too...
 
Yes it was mean spirited, but I don't think it was meant to be funny or humorous to the general population. It was written by a conservative, to play on conservatives transphobia. In the recent past, they used the same kind of, 'humor' on others, Why do n****** stink, so blind people can hate them too...
You folks have the strangest thoughts.
 
I understand what Twitter is doing and why, but that understanding does not put them above criticism.
It means that your 'criticism' is wildly and obviously misplaced. You claim this as a "reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be," when if there is any wider moral lesson to be gained from this it is a reminder of how dangerous right-leaning executives' perception and response to market trends and signals can be.
 
It means that your 'criticism' is wildly and obviously misplaced. You claim this as a "reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be," when if there is any wider moral lesson to be gained from this it is a reminder of how dangerous right-leaning executives' perception and response to market trends and signals can be.
You're certainly welcome to that opinion, just as I am welcome to mine. And my opinion is that anyone who believes referring to a biological male as a "male" qualifies as a statement worthy of censorship is an idiot.

Beyond the idiocy, it's actually counter to Twitter's stated corporate mission, which reads:

To give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers

So in this case, Twitter is not only failing to remove barriers, it's actually constructing them.
 
It means that your 'criticism' is wildly and obviously misplaced. You claim this as a "reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be," when if there is any wider moral lesson to be gained from this it is a reminder of how dangerous right-leaning executives' perception and response to market trends and signals can be.
No his point is still valid in this, not midplaced.
 
You're certainly welcome to that opinion, just as I am welcome to mine. And my opinion is that anyone who believes referring to a biological male as a "male" qualifies as a statement worthy of censorship is an idiot.
A right-leaning idiot, in the case of Twitter executives.



No his point is still valid in this, not midplaced.
I don't think you've understood the conversation.
 
I don't care if it's left or right. Politically motivated censorship should be called out whenever it's attempted by whoever attempts it.
And yet you explicitly characterized your own thread on the subject as an anti-left tirade:
"...this OP, it is not {A}. It's also not {B}. What it is is a reminder of how incredibly intolerant the political left can be. They are not looking to hear your differing views. They're not looking to prove that you are wrong. They're looking to shut you down so that others can't hear you."

It's good that you have learned something new and corrected your position (y)
 
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